Delhi: 2 arrested for racially abusing NE student

Alleged racial abuse came to the fore again in the Capital on Saturday. This time, a 25-year-old civil services aspirant was subjected to racist slurs by two drunks at North Campus. The two are also preparing for civil services.

The incident, reported a little before midnight from Christian Colony area located metres away from the Maurice Nagar police station, triggered a backlash among the local student community. Students from the Northeast marched to the police station and protested outside it.

This is the ninth such case to have been registered in the Capital so far this year. The victim has been identified as Heman Haokip, who hails from Manipur.

“The two have been taken into custody and cases have been registered against them. When they were taken into custody, both were found to be under the influence of alcohol,” said Sandeep Goel, Joint Commissioner of police (central range).

Amit Kumar, 22, and Akash Kumar, 23, both of whom hail from Bihar, were booked under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. One of the men is Haokip’s neighbour.

According to the police, Amit and Akash allegedly mocked Haokip as he walked down the corridor of the rented accommodation with some of his friends around 10.30 am. A party was on at his home after which this incident took place. The victims said there was a female friend in the group, which triggered the slur from the other group.

A verbal duel followed which turned into a violent confrontation soon. The police were informed and a case against the drunken men was finally registered around midnight.

After the Nido Tania incident in February, students, activists and sympathisers from across the city had protested against such acts of racial violence especially against people from the Northeast. “Such cases will happen unless the mentality of people in the country towards anyone from outside their region changes. In a period of one-and-a-half months, there have been 16 cases of racist violence reported in the city,” said Seram Rojesh, member, North-eastern Students’ Organisation of Delhi.